How Call Forwarding Works With Agents

Call forwarding with an agent is how your AI phone agent, Lilly, hands a live caller off to a real person on your team. It matters because a smooth handoff is what turns an answered call into a booked job instead of a dropped one. This guide walks through the two kinds of transfers, where the call gets sent, what happens when no one answers, and a newer ability that lets Lilly get through an automated "press 1" prompt to connect a rep.

Warm Transfers and Cold Transfers

Lilly can hand off a call two ways.

Warm transfer. Lilly briefs your rep on who is calling and why before connecting them, so the rep does not start from scratch.
Cold transfer. Lilly connects the caller straight through without a briefing.

Where the Call Gets Sent

When Lilly forwards a call, Alivo follows a set order to decide which number rings. It uses the forwarding number on the template first, then the agent's own number, and then your company default. This way there is always a fallback destination if the first choice is not set.

What Happens When No One Answers

Handoffs do not always connect. A rep might be on another job or away from the phone. When Lilly warm-transfers a call and no one answers, the call comes back to her and she switches into a message-taking mode so the lead is not lost.

What Lilly Does in the No-Answer Fallback

She lets the caller know. She opens with a line like, "Sorry, no one is available right now. I can take a message and have someone follow up."
She takes a message. She collects the caller's name, the best callback number (confirmed, even if caller ID already shows one), and the reason for the call.
She does not try again. In this mode she will not attempt another transfer or offer one.
She holds off on booking. Scheduling is turned off here, so she will not book, cancel, reschedule, or verify an address. She takes the message, confirms someone will follow up, and ends the call.

Good to know: This message-taking mode only kicks in on the no-answer handoff, not on normal calls. On a regular call, Lilly still books, answers questions, and helps as usual.

When Lilly Needs to Press a Key to Connect a Rep

Sometimes the system on the other end of a transfer asks for a keypress before it will connect, like an automated "press 1 to accept this lead" prompt. Lilly can now press that key so the handoff goes through. This is a gated ability that has to be enabled for your account.

Only when asked. She presses a key only when an automated system or recording explicitly tells her to press one to accept, continue, or connect.
Exactly the key requested. She presses the specific key named and does not guess her way through a menu.
Never with a live person. She will not press keys while talking to a real person on the line.

Keep in mind: This is meant to clear an automated gate that stands between Lilly and your rep, so a "press 1 to accept" prompt does not stop the connection. It is not for navigating long phone trees on your behalf.

Handoffs in Text Conversations

Forwarding is not only a phone thing. When a text conversation needs a human, Alivo raises an assistance-needed alert with the contact's name, number, and the reason, so your team can jump in on the conversation.

Common Questions

What happens to my lead if a transfer is not answered?

Lilly stays on the line, takes a message with the caller's name, callback number, and reason, and tells them someone will follow up. The lead does not just get a dial tone.

Will Lilly keep trying to transfer if the first rep misses it?

In the no-answer fallback she does not re-transfer. She takes a message so you can call the customer back.

Do I need to do anything for the press-a-key ability?

It has to be turned on for your account. Once enabled, Lilly only uses it when an automated prompt explicitly asks her to press a key to connect.

Still have a question this didn't answer? Reach out to our support team support@alivo.ai and we'll be glad to help.